Zaboru grinned. "Let's count together!" The big screen behind him lit up, showing the full list of games that would launch with ZGBA, complete with titles and cover art. The crowd instantly understood what he was doing, and they joined in like it was a chant at a stadium.
"ONE!"
"TWOOO!"
The numbers climbed fast. 3. 4. 5. By the time they reached 10, the hall was already buzzing, because even ten launch games would have been impressive for a new handheld. But Zaboru kept the pace moving, letting the list roll like a parade.
When it hit 15, the excitement turned into disbelief. People started shouting the names they recognized as the covers flashed by. Some fans screamed at Mario. Others yelled for Zelda. A few even jumped when Metroid appeared, as if the screen had personally called them out.
"EIGHTEEN!"
"NINETEEN!"
The crowd's voice got louder with each number, and by 20 it sounded like they were daring the screen to stop.
"TWENTY-ONE!"
For a heartbeat, the room froze—then everyone lost their minds. It wasn't just a lot. It was insane. Twenty-one games. A full library on day one.
People laughed, clapped, whistled, and shouted like they'd just witnessed something impossible. ZAGE did it again.
Zaboru smiles, "That's right folks, 21 games that will be released along with this."
Everyone in the room shouted, clearly excited, because they could already see titles from their favorite IPs—Metroid, Mario, Zelda—and even games they didn't recognize yet. Some people were yelling names across the hall like they were calling out old friends. Others were already arguing about which one they would buy first.
Zaboru raised both hands. "Okay, okay, relax."
He chuckled, enjoying the chaos, then leaned closer to the crowd like he was about to share a secret. "You want proof, right?"
Then he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a Metroid game.
The audience screamed.
"The Metroid Fusion!" Zaboru announced, holding it up so the cameras could zoom in. "Here. New Metroid game!"
He opened the game box slowly, letting the moment stretch, and inside was a small cartridge—compact, modern, and way smaller than the old handheld bricks. A fresh wave of excited murmurs rolled through the hall.
"Yes," Zaboru said with a grin, "we are not using big cartridges for our games in this ZGBA. Instead, we use this new type of cartridge." He tilted it between his fingers so the light caught the edges. "Small, clean, easy to carry, and fast to load. And it will be put in here."
He slid the cartridge into the ZGBA slot with a satisfying click. The sound was tiny, but the whole room heard it anyway.
Zaboru pressed the power button.
The ZGBA screen lit up. The boot logo flashed. Then Metroid Fusion started running right there on stage.
The audience roared like they'd just seen a magic trick. Some fans jumped. Some pointed at the screen like they needed their friends to confirm it was real. Zaboru chuckled again, satisfied, holding the handheld up so both the crowd and the cameras could see it clearly.
Zaboru continued, "But not just that! We are not abandoning backward compatibility. Instead, we enhance it even more."
He chuckled, then carefully removed the Metroid Fusion cartridge like he was handling a rare card. For a second he held it up again, just to tease the crowd, then slipped it back into the box.
"Now," Zaboru said, tapping the ZGBA's back side, "this is the part I know you all want."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a ZEPS 2 cartridge Choujin Sentai Z-man 2.
The audience screamed again.
"Yeah, yeah," Zaboru laughed. "ZEPS 2 Z-Man 2." He held it up so the cameras could zoom in, then nodded like he was about to perform another magic trick. "Watch closely."
From the table beside him, he picked up a compact adapter, snapped it onto the ZGBA with a clean click, and turned the handheld so everyone could see the new slot. Then he slid the ZEPS 2 cartridge into the back of the unit.
Click.
Zaboru pressed the power button.
The ZGBA logo appeared, then the screen shifted—and the game started running.
The audience went nuts. People stood up, hands in the air, yelling like they had just witnessed the impossible. Some fans shouted, "NO WAY!" while others were already laughing in disbelief.
Zaboru grinned, enjoying it. "Yeah," he said, voice louder over the noise. "Now you can play your ZEPS 1, ZEPS 2, and ZGB on this handheld too. Very cool, right?"
"YEAHHH!"
He lifted the adapter in one hand and shook it lightly. "This adapter is what makes the old cartridges work. It's simple, it's solid, and it's made to be used every day, not treated like fragile museum glass."
Then he pointed at the crowd like he already knew what the next question would be. "And don't worry. We are not selling this separately. You get it instantly when you buy the ZGBA package." He spread his arms wide with a dramatic grin. "Come on, guys. I'm not stingy."
The crowd laughed, and the chant returned on its own.
"You are very cool!"
Zaboru nodded like he was accepting a title. "I'm very cool."
Zaboru smiled. "Ah, as for game trailers, you already saw the gist of it in the video earlier, didn't you? So I don't want to show it again. Hehehe."
A dramatic groan rolled through the hall like a wave. People shouted "Nooo!" and a few even begged for another montage, but Zaboru only chuckled, enjoying the reaction like it was part of the show.
Then the big screen behind him changed, the colors shifting into a clean, bold slide with only two words.
"The Price"
The crowd quieted just a little. That wasn't the fun part, but it was the part that decided everything.
Zaboru smiled again. "Okay! So, the price." He lifted one hand like a teacher about to write on a board. "This is a strong device, so we set it at a slightly expensive price."
A few people immediately tensed, ready to complain.
"But," Zaboru continued, leaning forward with a grin, "you can get the ZGBA for 11.000 yen, or 110 US dollars."
The hall murmured, surprised.
"And that's not just the handheld," he said, counting with his fingers. "In the box you get the ZGBA, the backward compatibility adapter, the charger, and four pairs of ZA-Batteries." He tilted his head like he was challenging them. "So tell me, is that expensive?"
People actually paused and did the math. Eleven thousand yen for a new handheld was already competitive, and the included adapter and accessories made it feel like ZAGE wasn't trying to squeeze players right after the farewell packs. In fact, it felt cheap.
The comparison was immediate in everyone's head. Even the ZUSUGA handheld, the Reborn 16, was priced around 13.000 yen, and that was only a 16-bit handheld with none of this extra hardware or feature talk.
So instead of angry shouts, the hall filled with impressed laughter and excited murmurs, like the crowd didn't want to admit how reasonable it sounded.
Then Zaboru continued, "And for the cartridges, it's around 4.000 yen, or 40 USD."
The audience nodded. That was normal game pricing, and it didn't trigger panic the way a high handheld price might. In this world, regular people were also generally more comfortable compared to Zaboru's previous life. Less corruption meant less money leaking into the wrong pockets, and a more functional government meant wages and everyday life didn't feel like a constant struggle. So a 4.000 yen game still felt affordable to most families, especially as a hobby.
And as usual, ZAGE's pricing strategy only made their competitors sweat more. Zaboru wasn't trying to squeeze every last coin out of fans. He wanted volume, long-term trust, and a healthy library that people actually bought. That meant keeping prices aggressive enough to feel fair, but stable enough that developers could still build big games without being punished for ambition.
Zaboru chuckled. "Yeah, so that's the price. Isn't it affordable?"
"YEAH!" the audience shouted back.
Zaboru nodded like he agreed with them, then casually added, almost as if he'd forgotten it on purpose, "Oh, and didn't I mention something important?" He tilted his head, pretending to think. "Oh yeah, I forgot. This handheld is a 32-bit handheld. Hehehe."
The room exploded into laughter and disbelief at the same time.
"THIRTY-TWO BIT?!" someone screamed.
People clapped, whistled, and started talking over each other, because that number carried weight. A 32-bit handheld sounded unreal for the year, especially right after everyone had just watched it boot a ZEPS 2 cartridge on stage. Even the fans who didn't understand hardware could feel what it meant: cleaner sprites, smoother animation, bigger effects, and games that didn't look "small" just because they were portable.
Of course, it wasn't the same as a home console. The Sonaya Game Station was also a 32-bit machine, but a handheld and a console were different beasts. Power targets, heat limits, screen resolution, battery life, and storage all changed the rules. Still, hearing "32-bit" attached to something you could hold in your hands made the ZGBA feel like it belonged to a new era.
Zaboru laughed along with them, enjoying the shock. "Yeah," he said, raising his hands again as the noise climbed. "I know, I know. Calm down. You'll get your hands on it soon."
Then Zaboru said, "Okay, so ZGBA will release on 1 January 2000, exactly on the new year of 2000. Cool, right?"
The crowd screamed again, as if the date itself was a punchline and a promise at the same time.
"And if you want it," Zaboru continued, "you can buy it from your nearest store or from our official ZAGE store." He lifted a finger, already anticipating the next question. "And yes, if you buy the full bundle, you'll get a total 20% discount. Hehehe."
He chuckled, then his tone shifted slightly, more sincere, the way it did when he stopped performing and started speaking like himself.
"This is our new handheld. Our new era." He tapped the ZGBA lightly in his hand, like it was something fragile and powerful at the same time. "And let me tell you something. As long as I'm alive, I will never stop trying to improve. I will never stop trying to make good games."
He looked across the hall, then toward the cameras, as if he was speaking to the people watching from home too.
"I don't want the industry to fear ZAGE," he said. "I want it to be spirited. Competitive. Creative. I want a thriving video game industry where everyone is hungry to make something better, because that's when players win, and that's when games become legends."
The audience cheered, because to them Zaboru was the guy they trusted with video games—the guy who led the industry and somehow kept it from drifting into something ugly. In their eyes, he wasn't just a CEO who sold consoles. He was the person who pushed standards higher, kept companies hungry, and reminded everyone that games were supposed to be fun, not just products. That was why people kept calling him the "God of Video Games" and the "Savior of Video Games," even though Zaboru hated those titles.
Zaboru smiled, breathing out like he'd finally said what mattered most. "Anyway, that's all for me."
Then he grinned again, the showman returning in one smooth motion. "So, time for the magic word. This is the ZGBA, so…"
He raised his hand and counted with exaggerated seriousness. "1… 2… 3!"
The audience shouted with him, perfectly on beat.
"JUST BUY IT OKAY!?"
Zaboru laughed, applauded along with them, and bowed his head as he excused himself from the stage. The crowd didn't stop cheering even as he stepped back, because now the date was locked in their minds.
1 January 2000.
And the whole room felt like it was already counting down.
To be continue
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